Cruel Winter Blues

Cruel Winter Blues
Cruel Winter Blues
	Poster for Cruel Winter Blues (2006)
Korean name
Hangul	열혈남아
Hanja	熱血男兒
Revised Romanization	Yeolhyeolnama
McCune–Reischauer	Yŏrhyŏlnama
Directed by	Lee Jeong-beom
Written by	Lee Jeong-beom
Produced by	Cha Seung-jae; Kim Mi-hee
Starring	Sol Kyung-gu; Jo Han-sun; Na Moon-hee
Cinematography	Kim Dong-cheon
Edited by	Shin Min-kyung
Music by	Kim Jun-seok
Distributed by	CJ Entertainment
Release date	November 9, 2006;
Running time	118 minutes
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean
Budget	US$4 million
Box office	US$2.5 million

Cruel Winter Blues (Korean: 열혈남아; RR: Yeol-hyeol-nam-a; lit. "A Hot-blooded Man") is a 2006 South Korean neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by Lee Jeong-beom. It stars Sol Kyung-gu, Jo Han-sun and Na Moon-hee in the lead roles. The narrative centers around a small-time crook who partners with a retired taekwondo practitioner to seek revenge on the man who killed his mentor, and ends up befriending the killer's mother who reminds him of his hometown.

The film released on 9 November 2006.

Synopsis

A mob captain, Jae-mun (Sol Kyung-gu)^[2] is the seasoned veteran of a mob family. He decides to go after rival mobster Dae-sik, the man who killed his boss and childhood friend a few years earlier. He takes Chi-guk with him as his partner in the assassination. Although a physically imposing black belt in taekwondo, Chi-guk (Jo Han-sun) is a soft-spoken newcomer to gang life, who is quietly offended by Jae-mun's arbitrary and random acts of cruelty and rudeness against him and others. Together, they travel to Dae-sik's hometown, a remote rural village called Bulgyo in South Jeolla Province.

While waiting for an opportunity to perform the hit, Jae-mun coincidentally befriends Dae-sik's mother Jeon-sim (Na Moon-hee) and spends some time with her. She comes to lovingly treat him as another son, and Jae-mun begins to feel conflicted. A tragic plot develops, culminating in a bloody showdown between Jae-mun and Dae-sik.